Just as Saifei'er hesitated because of the treasure chest in front of her, outside the ancient tomb, three sneaky figures also arrived, and one of them said, "Rat, you’re sure a team of adventurers just went in, right?"
The short man called Rat nodded. He was the guy who had been secretly observing Saifei'er and the others from behind a tree a hundred meters away.
The identities of these three people were simple: they were three thieves. In fact, this ancient tomb was not exposed due to natural causes, but was dug out by these three guys, and their purpose was self-evident: to steal burial objects.
These three thieves had already initially explored this ancient tomb. They even safely passed through the trap area and entered a main tomb chamber, but there were a large number of undead inside. These thieves were good at avoiding traps, but their direct combat ability was very ordinary.
In fact, there were originally four of them, but during their hasty escape, one person was surrounded by undead and eventually died there. Only three of them successfully escaped.
At the same time, some undead, in pursuit of these three people, forcefully ran out of the tomb, and were seen by nearby villagers, which led to the current commission.
In short, the treasure was right in front of them, but these three thieves couldn't defeat the undead and couldn't get the treasures inside. They must have been anxious!
Unwilling to give up, and not daring to go in and fight, they could only squat outside.
Hearing 'Rat's' words, the thief leader said, "Good, we'll follow them in. After these adventurers clear out the undead, and when they are exhausted, we will appear and reap the benefits!"
The three returned to the tomb. Upon seeing the stone door fully open, they couldn't help but be stunned. They knew they had initially put in a lot of effort to create a small gap, allowing their four to barely squeeze through. They were very clear about how heavy this stone door was, but now it was actually fully open?
The thief leader said, "The strength of these adventurers should not be underestimated. Let's be careful!"
The thief leader walked at the forefront, holding a torch, cautiously staring at the ground, paying attention to the location of the traps, and then... he found that all the traps here had been triggered?
Looking up, he could see arrows densely stuck in the walls on both sides. The thief leader couldn't help but wonder, "Ah? Do they not have a thief in their team? They triggered such simple traps?"
Or more accurately, in a situation where there was no thief in the team, and still accepting a mission to investigate an underground ancient tomb, was there really nothing wrong with the adventure team leader's brain?
(Fay: I don't know, I thought we had a thief in our team when I accepted this commission!)
But then, as the thief leader looked at one triggered trap after another, his expression grew increasingly bewildered. He thought long and hard but couldn't understand what had happened for all the traps to be triggered without leaving a single corpse or even a drop of blood on the ground.
"So those adventurers triggered so many traps, and they weren't even injured? How did they manage that?!"
——————
Returning to Saifei'er's perspective, Fay looked at her eager expression and couldn't help but say, "Even if you're interested in this treasure chest, you can't pick locks, right? We can't open this treasure chest at all."
Hearing this, Saifei'er's small face fell. It was true, whether or not the treasure chest had traps, she couldn't open it.
At this moment, Douglas suddenly stepped forward, "It's okay, little Saifei'er can't pick locks, but I can!"
Upon hearing this, the three of them looked at him in shock. Saifei'er exclaimed, "You, a priest, can pick locks!?"
"Isn't this simple?" Saying that, Douglas picked up the double-bladed great axe he had been carrying on his back and assumed a charging stance. "As long as I open this treasure chest, it's fine, right? Let me aim. Let me see, the lock is here, right..."
Clearly, what Douglas meant by 'picking locks' was not the same as what normal people understood as picking locks. Before he could act, Fay quickly stepped forward to stop him, "You should rest! Who opens a lock like that!"
"So what do we do now?" Douglas asked, clearly also interested in the treasure chest.
After a moment of silence, Saifei'er observed the size of the chest, then looked at Douglas, and tentatively said, "How about... we just carry this chest away?"
Douglas's eyes lit up, and he immediately gave her a thumbs up, "That's a great idea!"
Since they couldn't get the items inside the chest, they would just take the entire chest. Once they moved it back to the city, there would be plenty of ways to open it.
Douglas put the double-bladed axe back on his back. He rubbed his hands together, stepped forward, and directly picked up the entire treasure chest, carrying it on his shoulder. This weight was nothing to him.
During this time, Fay kept her eyes fixed on Douglas, ready to cast a shield spell on him at any moment, but until the very end, nothing unexpected happened. She couldn't help but show a surprised expression, "This treasure chest actually has no traps!?"
After the treasure chest interlude, everyone returned to the previous crossroads. This time, Saifei'er chose to go left. Along the way, no more traps were triggered. After a certain distance, a T-junction appeared in front of her, meaning she could only turn left or right, not go straight.
After a moment of thought, Saifei'er once again chose the left. However, this time it wasn't a random choice. When she walked left from the initial 'crossroads', she could feel a sense of incline.
The degree of inclination was very small, but Saifei'er's sense of balance was simply too strong. By flicking her tail and perceiving the extremely subtle changes in her center of gravity, she could deduce that the ground was not level.
So now, at this second fork in the road, for Saifei'er, it wasn't a choice between left and right, but a choice between up and down. Clearly, tombs like this should generally be dug downwards, and the probability of the lower path being the correct one was higher.
And indeed, that was the case. A moment later, the four finally exited the stone corridor and arrived in a very spacious underground structure, like a large hall.
Four thick stone pillars were located in the four corners of this place, and in the middle of this hall was an ancient stone coffin, most likely where the owner of this tomb resided.
But at the same time, right next to this stone coffin, dense white skeletons were aimlessly wandering back and forth. These skeletons almost completely surrounded the stone coffin, conservatively estimated to be no less than forty.
It is worth mentioning that among this large group of skeletons, there was also a 'zombie' wearing ragged clothes, which was exceptionally conspicuous. Clearly, this guy was the thief who had died here earlier.
Fay noticed this guy immediately and frowned, reminding, "Be careful, this place and these undead are filled with a very strong negative energy. If you are injured by them, the consequences will be very serious!"
These skeletons had no armor and no weapons. The only thing that could injure people might be their still sharp finger bones, but once scratched by these bones, the large amount of negative energy attached to these skeletons would enter the wound.
The wound would be difficult to heal, bleeding endlessly, and this negative energy would even slowly corrode the wound like sulfuric acid. The injured person would experience immense, indescribable pain. If it were an ordinary person, they might lose combat ability immediately from a single scratch.
And if they died here, this negative energy would slowly transmit throughout the deceased's body, slowly 'resurrecting' them into a zombie. Once the flesh on the zombie's body completely rotted away, they would become the large group of skeletons seen in front of everyone.
However, this negative energy sounds terrifying, but it is actually very easy to deal with. Most proper priests possess the divine spell 'Dispel Undead'. The vast majority of divine spells are composed of the purest positive energy, like an acid-base neutralization. A priest only needs to release the positive energy from their body to neutralize the negative energy on these undead, and they will die on their own.
But clearly, Douglas was not a proper priest; he didn't know this trick.
However, it wasn't a big problem. Fay quickly chanted a spell, then patted Ailiya, Douglas, and Saifei'er on the shoulder in turn, "Protection from Negative Energy!"
A second-ring Protection School magic, its effect was simple, as its name suggested. This was not a conventional shield, but rather a buff applied to the caster, forming a thin film of positive energy on their body surface. All negative energy would be neutralized upon first contact.
In other words, even if they were injured by these skeletons, it would only be a normal scratch.
The Protection School, in a sense, protected against the other seven schools of magic, and this 'Protection from Negative Energy' was invented to defend against the Death School.
Afterward, Fay separately applied a 'Triggered Shield Spell' to Ailiya and Douglas. This was a conventional shield that could be used to defend against physical attacks. Now, they didn't even have to fear scratches.
As for why not Saifei'er? Because she already had one, and it hadn't been triggered yet.
After applying two layers of protective measures to everyone, Fay then said, "Alright, you can go. I will observe from a distance, and if needed, I can provide shields remotely."
"Alright! Then I'm charging!" Douglas tossed the treasure chest from his shoulder onto the ground, picked up the great axe from his back, grinned, and charged into the skeleton horde.
These skeletons were on average about 1.5 to 1.6 meters tall, not even as tall as Saifei'er. Perhaps their height shrunk because all the flesh on their bodies had rotted away?
In short, the two-meter-tall Douglas charging in was like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep. Wielding his equally nearly two-meter great axe, with just one strike, he swept away all five or six skeletons in front of him.
However, they were only swept away, and not a single one was killed. Saifei'er saw it clearly: perhaps because these skeletons were too light, when hit horizontally, they wouldn't be cut in half or anything, but rather sent flying.
Douglas clearly noticed this as well, so he changed his horizontal sweep to a vertical chop.
"Thud!"
The great axe struck the ground with a dull thud. Saifei'er even felt the ground beneath her feet vibrate slightly. As for the skeleton struck by Douglas? It had long since turned into a pile of bone fragments, shattered beyond recognition.
Ailiya also drew the stone sword from her waist. A dazzling golden light emanated from the sword, and with a 'Holy Strike', a single horizontal sweep, all the skeletons hit were easily cut open like butter. Even the skeletons that had been split in half caught golden flames, and in a short while, they were completely burned to powder.
This scene made Saifei'er feel a bit eager to try as well. Speaking of which, she hadn't officially experienced a battle since transmigrating. Anyway, she now had Fay's two layers of shields, and these skeletons didn't seem very strong. Should she also go up and practice a bit?
Actually, as a thief, by safely 'avoiding' all traps and successfully reaching here, Saifei'er's duty was already fulfilled. Even if she just stood by and did nothing, no one else would say anything.
But conversely, if she was willing to help, others naturally wouldn't object, although... Ailiya and Douglas didn't seem to need much help.
Ailiya's special attack was maxed out; every strike could kill three to four skeletons. While Douglas was a bit slower in efficiency, thanks to the shields Fay provided, he didn't have to worry about defense at all, only attacking, attacking, and attacking again, charging into the skeleton horde and rampaging, incredibly fierce.
However, just then, a limping skeleton slowly walked towards Saifei'er and Fay's position. After all, there were so many skeletons on the field; no matter how powerful Ailiya and Douglas were, they were only two people, so there were bound to be some stragglers.
Seeing this, Fay couldn't help but frown. The Protection School was powerful, but its only drawback was its lack of offensive capability. Just as she was about to call Douglas over for reinforcement, Saifei'er charged forward with a brisk stride.
Saifei'er had no weapon in her hand, but she didn't need one. After rushing in front of the skeleton, she very swiftly turned around and raised her leg, delivering a very standard and perfect spinning kick. Her heel directly struck the skeleton's head.
"Bang—!"
With a crisp sound, the skeleton's head flew out like a cannonball. Fay seemed to see a white meteor streak past her.
"Thump~"
Another dull thud. The head flew directly across the battlefield and slammed into the opposite wall, even embedding itself halfway, leaving only half of a bald skull exposed.
Fay, "!?"
What just happened?
In fact, not just Fay, even Saifei'er herself couldn't help but be stunned. She looked at the wobbling, headless skeleton that finally fell to the ground, and couldn't help but silently sigh in her heart, 'This... is it that simple?'